The Fallers
by manfrommercury
Summary: There are countless worlds in Ultra Space, and also countless dangers. Cast through the multiverse without warning, five pokémon trainers find themselves stranded in an alien - yet strangely familiar - world.
1. Chapter 1

Luke

Two days had passed since the irregularity, and the director was losing his mind over the prospect of acquiring another ultra beast. Twilight faded into darkness, and the glow of the Celadon high-rises was blooming on the north horizon. Eve was gathered her instruments and packed them into her bag, apparently having concluded her data collection. Isaac was pacing around the tall grass with his tablet in his hands, scanning the ground, the air, the grass, and anything and everything else for "irregularities," as he called them. Such things seemed to catch his eye wherever he went, and more often than not in places where no one else found anything at all out of the ordinary.

"So, what do you think?" asked Luke.

"You know what I'm going to say," replied Eve, flatly. "We got here too late. Whatever was here – if anything, it's long gone."

"Which would mean there's one or maybe a handful of ultra beasts running around the Kanto region."

"I don't know about that. Something like that would have been reported as soon as someone saw it."

"_If_ someone had seen it."

"We're not in the middle of nowhere. There's not far it would be able to go without finding someone. UB's are always aggressive."

"Assuming it leaves witnesses, whatever it might be."

Eve shook her head and pinched her brow, "Your speculation is crossing over into ridiculousness."

"One word: guzzlord."

"A big, slow thing like that? We'd have already found it."

Eve was skeptic, but Luke had been monitoring ultra space disturbances for years, and this one was telltale. Nothing as strong as this ever popped up on their instruments without something solid being dropped into the world, and since whatever had come through was nowhere to be seen, it simply must have been something mobile. A naganadel could have emerged from such a hole, and taken right to the sky. _But how would we find such a creature?_

"Fallers, maybe?" Isaac suggested from below. He was laying on his belly, examining something on the ground.

Luke stroked his chin. _Fallers._ It was not quite was they were hoping to find, but it was certainly possible. Humans from other universes were a rarity, but it deserved investigation nonetheless.

"Come on," said Eve, with a sigh. "Let's just get our stuff together so we can go."

"You want to leave empty-handed?"

"What choice do we have? We were sent here to investigate the anomaly." She swung her sky blue backpack over her shoulders. "I can't speak for either of you, but my investigation has concluded. There's nothing more to be done."

"You know what he's going to ask us, Eve."

She rolled her eyes. "So what did you guys find?" she imitated. "And I'll tell him that that we didn't find anything, because that's the truth."

"Not so," said Isaac from below. "Footprints."

"What kind of footprints?" Luke asked.

"Mostly shoes."

Eve scoffed.

Isaac continued as he pulled himself to his feet, "And a tropius. Fresh, too. Two days or less, I'd say."

"Those don't live in Kanto, do they?" asked Luke.

"No, they don't, but so what?" said Eve. "We're not far from Hoenn. Besides, trainers bring alien species to different regions all the time. A tropius here is nothing strange." She began walking back towards the car. "Now are you guys coming me or are you camping out here tonight? I'm starving."

Ultra space was a wild thing, and its wormholes were poorly understood, but Luke had studied it for long enough to know that something bizarre had happened here. Isaac swung his messenger bag over his shoulder and followed after Eve. With night having fallen and nothing in sight but tall grass and sparse trees, Luke could hardly justify staying any longer, but his investigation was far from done. He activated his wrist-mounted tablet computer. Fallers often looked like ordinary people, and could usually blend into urban environments perfectly. But any visitor from another world would have no identification, or money. He spoke into the device, "Alara, search Celadon City Police Department records within the last forty eight hours for reports of anyone detained without ID."

"Searching... Done," replied the artificial intelligence program, as results appeared on the screen.

Luke shook his head in disappointment. Four people in the city had been detained without proper identification in the last two days – all of them teenagers arrested for graffiti. Certainly not fallers. The answer was there, he was sure. He just needed the right question. _Tropius footprints._ It was a stretch, but it was his best lead. He spoke into the device again, "Alara... search Celadon City Police Department records within the last forty eight hours, keyword: tropius."

"Searching... Done."

A few results appeared on screen, all of them complaints to the police of a tropius flying through restricted airspace. Luke stroked his chin. Undoubtedly, he was on to something.

"Alara, search all Celadon City emergency service records within the last forty eight hours, keyword: anonymous."

"Searching... ... ..."

Eve was becoming annoyed. "Do you really have to do this now?"

"... Done."

Three results: two Johns and one Jane Doe, all admitted to Celadon City Central Hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries. Luke raised an eyebrow at the screen. John and Jane Doe were not usually living people. He checked back, and compared it with the previous results. The ultra space anomaly, the airspace complaints, and the anonymous hospital patients had all been recorded within thirty minutes of each other. Without hesitation, he was out of the hotel, and in the car on his way to that hospital. Whoever those people were, they either saw something come out of an ultra space wormhole and fought it, or they stepped through it themselves. He was on to something.

"We're making a detour to Celadon Central Hospital," said Luke.

"Why?" she asked, wearily.

"Because I know how we can find our fallers."


	2. Chapter 2

Marlo

They had crossed over as five, battered and exhausted, and Marlo hardly knew any of them. Shay left them the morning after the arrival, musing something about "forging his own path." Zed followed suit shortly after, saying something similar. With that, she, Carter, and Penny had only each other, and whatever they had on their backs when the ultra space wormhole dumped them in the grassy fields outside of Celadon. Homeless, broke, hungry, and aimless, the advertisements posted around the city for the free-to-enter, cash-prize tournament was almost too good to be true.

Marlo's heart raced as the crowd roared around her. Of sixty four participants, she and Carter were the last remaining competitors. Both the first and second place prizemoney was now secured. They had agreed to pool any and all winnings, and Marlo had no doubts that he would honor his word, but she dared not lose. She had proven herself stronger than five trainers today, and the glory of the stadium was more intoxicating than she could have imagined. Carter called out his bisharp. This was his final pokémon.

Marlo shouted a command, "Hypnosis!" Her gengar floated to the center of the arena, just before his opponent, and created a mesmeric swirling display with a cackling, blood-curdling laugh. The bisharp dove to its left, rolled away from the attack, and then leaped back up.

"Night slash!" commanded Carter as Casper's hypnosis came to an ineffective end. His bisharp swung forward with the steel blade of its forearm.

"Dodge it!" replied Marlo. Her phantasmal pokémon flattened himself to a shadow on the floor just as the cut would have landed. "Now, night shade!" Casper assumed his regular form again just behind his opponent.

"Sucker punch!" shouted Carter. Marlo tried to think of something, but her opponent's pokémon was a blur. The bisharp turned around, and with a cruel slash from its arm-blade, her gengar was down. The crowd boomed as the health bar approximating her pokémon's vitality dropped to nothing on all the stadium's electronic displays, and a big, red X appeared over his portrait. Clicking her tongue in frustration, she returned Casper to his poké ball, and reached for her belt. Her next pokémon would be her last. Hesitantly, she grabbed her mismagius' capsule, and pulled back her arm to throw, but she stopped herself. _Damn dark-type._ All of her pokémon were ghosts. She reattached the capsule, and reached into her handbag. It was a gamble, but it was her best shot.

The crowd exploded once again as Seren's salamence emerged from the capsule, and took to the air. Marlo had never commanded this pokémon before. Draco soared to the end of the stadium, and looped around the edges as spectators roared. Beyond what she had seen his previous trainer do, she had no idea what she was doing, but intuition told her that wings were their best weapon.

"Dragon pulse!"

Draco swooped down, and bombarded the stadium floor with a stream of blue dragonfire. The bisharp tried to run, but with nowhere to hide, it found itself caught in the cruel blaze. Frustratingly, it seemed to resist the attack well enough, but Marlo still had the sky's advantage. She commanded another dragon pulse, and Draco looped back around, once again strafing the ground with its scorching breath. This time, the bisharp held its place, legs widened, as if to keep its balance.

"Thunder wave!" commanded Carter, and as Seren's salamence swooped down, his pokémon replied with a charged flurry of lightning and sparks. Electricity surged through Draco's body. He reeled back, his pulse-stream was stifled, and he was brought down. The dragon was far from defeated, but he no longer had the use of his wings. Spectators cheered and jeered, and Marlo's confidence waned.

"Dragon claw!" she shouted.

"Sucker punch!" replied Carter.

Marlo chewed her lip as she watched her opponent sidestep Draco's strike and deliver a steely slash across his face. This was exactly what Carter wanted. The dragon slashed and raked, but each move was anticipated. He swiped left, the bisharp dodged right. He went high, the bisharp ducked low. Marlo clenched her teeth – she was commanding a stranger's pokémon, and she did not know what she was doing.

"Flamethrower!" she cried out of desperation. It was a shot in the dark, but a shot nonetheless. Her confidence came rushing back as Seren's salamence exhaled a river of fire. Carter's bisharp dove and rolled from harm's way, but from the looks, it was undoubtedly growing fatigued. She commanded it once more, "Draco, flamethrower!" Carter's pokémon staggered back as Seren's salamence prepared for another stream. It had worn itself tired, trading blows with the dragon. The opponent collapsed in a blazing wreath. The fire faded to smoke and embers, and Draco stood the victor over a defeated bisharp. The crowd exploded, showering her with glory, "Marlo! Marlo! Marlo!" Seeing her name and portrait displayed around the stadium, she had never felt such pride.

Receiving their winnings proved more difficult than anticipated – they had not considered the complications of having no bank account, proof of identity, or any records whatsoever for that matter. They had bought fake identification cards in the red light district with some cash that Zed managed to steal before he went off on his own, but on paper, they were ghosts. The hospital staff had been more forgiving, given their injuries, and far less suspicious. But after all, they were citizens of a fallen government, from a plane of existence that may as well not even be real. The people of this world knew nothing of the multiverse, nothing of The Collapse, and nothing of the horrors that lurked just beyond the thin curtain of reality. It was nearly midnight when Marlo and Carter finally stepped outside the great stadium doors into the glowing city. Whatever the hour, the high-rises were never dark.

Carter chuckled. "I must say, that really caught me off-guard at the end."

"Me too." It was a miracle that the dragon had even obeyed her.

They found Penny outside, laying on her back on the marble steps that surrounded the stadium on all sides, staring carelessly at the starless sky with her hands behind her head, and her knees in the air. Her little cyndaquil sleeping by her side.

"Did you see it?" asked Marlo, giddily.

"See what?" she replied, flatly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"I got first place, and he came in second!"

Penny was utterly unimpressed. "That explains why you took so long. So, are we not homeless anymore?"

To Marlo, Penny was mostly a stranger. Carter described her as having been the most innocent and sweetest girl that he had ever known after The Collapse, but the incident at the Control Hub had ruined all that. She lost her best friend that night, and her left eye. Now she wore her hair in a red swoop that covered the medical eyepatch, along with the entire left half of her face. In the three days since crossing worlds together, Marlo had never once seen her smile.

"That... remains to be discussed," said Carter, hesitantly.

"What's there to discuss?" asked Penny, quickly growing annoyed.

"Well, I've been thinking," he replied, hesitantly. "We could get an apartment. But, do we really want to?"

She sat up and looked at him as if he had five heads, "Why wouldn't we?"

"Because I'm a pokémon trainer, and this is more than anything I could have asked for."

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

"I had eight badges in Alachia. I was going to challenge the Pokémon League. The Collapse killed my dreams along with almost everyone I had ever known, but now, by some miracle that I can't even explain, I've been given a second chance – we all have. And I'm not letting that get away from me. I'm pulling out of the deal. Marlo, Penny, I'm sorry, but I'm not paying for an apartment. I'm paying my IOU to the hospital, I'm taking my money on the move, and I'm taking the league challenge."

"So, you're abandoning us, in other words."

"I'm not abandoning anyone." Carter said, wearily, "You're welcome to come with me. But if all you want out of life is to be some librarian or waitress and live and die in this city, that's your own prerogative. I really don't care."

She stood up, absolutely fuming, "Does our history together mean nothing to you?"

"It means a great deal to me. It's mainly why I've been enduring all your mopey behavior lately."

"Well, your promises obviously don't mean anything to you then."

He rolled his eyes. "You're like a child, do you know that?"

"Fuck you!"

Finally, Carter snapped. "Let me make one thing clear to you, girl: I don't owe you anything. I am under no obligation to provide for you. I'm offering to let you come with me – to mooch whatever resources you need from me, which is pretty much all I've ever seen you do other than cower and hide while stronger people get things done for you. So you can either come with me, or you can sit your skinny little ass back down on the concrete and die right here on the sidewalk."

Penny averted her gaze to the ground, and pouted in defeat. Finally, there were no snide remarks remaining. She had a point – Carter indeed promised to pool his money for an apartment, and now he was going back on his word. His motive was strong though, and it was catching Marlo's interest. _Eight badges. _She had defeated him in the tournament tonight, topping off a streak of six wins. While she had never imagined herself in competitive battling in the past, she was learning her true strength as a pokémon trainer, and the glory of victory had proven attractive. If Carter could take on a regional league, certainly she was capable of the same. He was right. They had each been gifted beyond their imagination. How could she throw such an opportunity away by settling down and living an average life?

"I want to come with you," said Marlo, partly to break the tension.

"Good," he replied, sharply. "You'd be wasting your talents otherwise." He was talking more to Penny than to her.

She continued, trying her best not to add any friction. "There's as much for you here in this city as there is anywhere else you. None of us can ever go home, and even if we could, why would we? You've got to look at the positives. Come with us – explore with us."

"I bet that's easy for you to say," said Penny, darkly. "You're not fucking deformed."

Marlo bit her lip uncomfortably. She dared not talk about the eye.

"Let's be real here, Penny," said Carter. "If you're not coming with us, then what are you going to do? Your eye is as likely to grow back in this city as it is anywhere else."

Penny said nothing. Her face collapsed into her hands, and she began to cry. With that, she bolted down the street. Marlo gave Carter a stern look – he should have known better than to say anything about that. She knelt down, picked Penny's cyndaquil up from the ground, and cradled him in her arms.

"I think you should go after her."

"She won't run far without her pokémon."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. We're all strangers here. We need to stick together."

Carter looked guilty. He sighed, wearily. "If I pay for a hotel room for us the night, do you think she'll forgive me?"

"Hi, excuse me," said a man's voice from behind them.

They turned around to see two men and one woman, all wearing white lab coats. The man who spoke looked to be maybe thirty, with friendly green eyes and brown hair neatly brushed to the side. The other man looked about ten years older, and very fidgety. He looked away as soon as Marlo looked him in the face. His eyes were brown, and his hair was a greying, thinning mob of curls. The woman was perhaps in her late twenties, attractive, with an angular, stoic face, and icy blue eyes. Her black hair was pulled tightly back into a bun.

He continued, "You're Marlo, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, awkwardly. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually. We were wondering if you would mind coming with us and answering a few questions."

"Questions?" echoed Carter, suspiciously. "I've got one for you: who are you?"

"I'm Luke," the man replied. "These are my colleagues, Eve and Isaac. We saw your battle tonight. You're Carter, I believe?"

Luke hesitated for a moment. He exchanged an uneasy look with his companions. Something was off about them. They certainly did not look like league recruiters or anything of that sort. Doctor Dormer knew about other worlds, and he had even travelled to some of them. Certainly, some people from these other worlds had studied ultra space, and they probably would recognize someone who had travelled between planes. Between the hospital and the tournament, Marlo and Carter had undoubtedly left enough of a footprint to gain some attention.

"That doesn't answer my question," said Carter, sharply. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"We've done nothing wrong," added Marlo. "We're not going anywhere. Whatever you want to ask us, you can ask us right here."

"This is really something we shouldn't talk about in public," replied Luke.

Eve spoke up, "We're researching an anomaly." She spoke sternly and confidently, as if to amend what Luke had said earlier. "We think you might be able to help us."

_An anomaly._ There was no doubt – they knew.

Carter raised an eyebrow. "And why would we be able to do that? We're just pokémon trainers."

"Can we stop beating around the bush?" said Isaac, suddenly. "Look, we know what you are, we know where you came from, and it would be easier for everyone – including you – if you just came with us."

Luke was speechless. Eve pinched her brow.

"We're not going anywhere," declared Carter. "We're leaving now, and if you follow us, then there's going to be a problem. Do you understand?"

"Wait," said Luke. "Let's talk about this."

"Fuck you."

Carter started down the steps. Luke looked like he wanted to say something, but he only bit his lip instead. Marlo hesitated. These researchers did not seem dangerous, but they were aliens nonetheless. She, Carter, and Penny were strangers in a strange land, and they would be fools to expect benevolence for nothing. His distrust was not misplaced. She looked back as they reached the sidewalk, and turned down the direction Penny had gone.

Eve screamed at Isaac, "Look what you've done, you idiot!"

Marlo shook her head as she caught up with Carter. Whatever their deal, she wanted no part in it. She wanted to return to the arena – to glory – and no one from any world was going to stand in her way.


End file.
